I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The tenth book in the bestselling and “outstanding” (Romantic Times) Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series finally reveals for the first time the origins of Gin Blanco’s career as the deadliest of assassins.

For the first time, the origins of Gin Blanco’s career as the deadly assassin “the Spider” are revealed in full. In a story that pre-dates the other nine books in the series, Gin Blanco goes through her paces to become the most feared assassin in the Ashland.

Despite being listed as book 10 in the Elemental Assassin series, The Spider actually takes us back to the beginning of it all during what we could call “the making” of the Spider. Gin receives a package at the Pork Pit that takes her back to a job that really impacted her training.

The Spider has been on a few jobs, but this one is different. Fletcher has a bad feeling and is trying to research the origins and motives of the job before he officially accepts the job. But when Gin discovers that a child is possibly being harmed in this situation, she is determined to get to the job as fast as possible. She thinks Fletcher’s call for patience is endangering this child. This set off warning bells for me right from the start. Number one, Fletcher is the experienced one, and two, none of the research actually proves WHO is doing the abusing of the child. I was right there with Fletcher and his “bad feeling”. I had it too.

Gin also disregards Fletcher’s warnings in another area of her life and takes her down a road that opens her eyes about what a life as an assassin is going to cost her. It definitely explains a lot of her actions in the future during similar situations.

I have loved the Elemental Assassin series for a long time and it was so great to get a glimpse into what made the Spider what she is today. A little heartbreaking in there a few times, and I wanted to scream, but those kinds of feelings are what good books pull out of you. I was worried that this book would just be a rehashing of things we already knew, but I was pleasantly surprised and readers of this series should NOT miss it!

Read for: Review
Challenge: 2013 E-book Challenge

About Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

Jennifer writes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. Unwanted, e-novella #14.5 in the series, will be released on July 18. Unraveled, book #15, will be released on Aug. 30.

Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series. She is also the author of the Black Blade young adult urban fantasy series and the Bigtime paranormal romance series.

Jennifer’s books have been featured in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, and a variety of other publications. You can follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.

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